The Sword of the LORD

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ .” (2 Corinthians 10:5).    “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him?   But we have the mind of Christ .” (1 Corinthians 2:16).   The mind is truly the command central of every human being.   It is the seat of all our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.   It is where our creativity, calculation, passion, reasoning, imagination, judging, surmising, emotion, perception, logic, expression, discernment, and so much more originate.   The mind is also the gateway of our bodies and our souls.   This is where the real spiritual warfare takes place in our lives.   Our enemy, Satan, will lie to us, using reason, deception, and even the truth in a twisted form to weaken our resistance and get us to agree with him.   Once our guard is down, we are op...

The Jewish patriarch, Isaac, had two sons who were twins.   Esau was the firstborn and Jacob was literally born on Esau’s heels because scripture tells us that he took hold of Esau’s heel as he was being birthed and was delivered immediately after.   “And when her [Isaac’s wife Rebekah’s] days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob : and Isaac was threescore years old when she [Rebekah] bare them.” (Genesis 25:24-26).   The two boys couldn’t have been any different from one another.   It was not just their appearance, but their personalities and inclinations were also quite different.   Scripture says, “…Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” (v. 27).   Esau wa...

Recently, during my devotions, the Lord led me to a verse that I had read many times before, and thought I understood well.  This time, though, the Lord let me see something rather surprising about His intention for us as believers, and the seriousness of the call that He has placed on us as Christians.   The scripture is in St. Matthew 14, right after the account of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.   It reads, “ And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” (Matthew 14:22).   There are two tasks that the Lord is directing in this verse: He is sending His disciples across the sea ahead of Him, and He is dismissing, or sending away, the multitude.   The Lord seems very deliberate in accomplishing these two tasks; and, so He was, for He did nothing that was not intentional.   Everything had plan and purpose.   We see in His actions, therefore, a cl...